


Of Course You Drink Your Coffee Black

by Wewuwe



Category: Free!
Genre: College, Cute Dorks, Developing Relationship, Eventual Smut, Fluff, I wouldn't blame him, M/M, Mako is a nervous wreck around Sousuke, Slow Build, Swearing, nothing but awkwardness, rating may change later on, slow building relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-16
Updated: 2017-10-23
Packaged: 2018-03-18 02:53:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3553373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wewuwe/pseuds/Wewuwe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Free! gang is in college! Mako finds out he has a familiar face in a few of his basic classes. </p><p>Sousuke is trying his best to play nice with Rin's friends, but god damn. Sometimes it's impossible. But he's never really had a problem with Tachibana. He's actually much quieter than he was in high school. </p><p>Maybe he'd be worth being nice to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Don't worry, it's not a barista story ^.^".  
> Let me know if I can fix a few things here and there, I need the help since I'm new to this site.  
> Thank you!!

"Ugh." Makato pushed his glasses up his nose as he continued to type the ten page paper that was due in a week.  
He didn't like the way it was turning out though.. It felt.. Off somehow. 

The brunette ruffled his own hair in annoyance and shut the laptop. He would work on it later. He had to get to math class anyways. 

Makoto was always fairly early for the classes, he just always worried he'd be late and have to deal with everyone's judging eyes as he walked into the classroom.

He sat down in his normal seat and grabbed his journal and pencil for notes. 

After a few minutes other students began showing up, getting there early for their seats he assumed. 

He looked down and flipped to an empty page to be ready for today, since his professor always sped through the notes he wrote on the board. 

"Hey, I forgot a pencil, could I borrow one of yours?" 

It finally registered that the person was talking to him. 

"Oh." He reached into his bag and grabbed a pencil. "Here--" His hand stopped moving as soon as he saw those bored-looking turquoise eyes. "S-sousuke." He was surprised to see Rin's friend sitting next to him. "..oh, right. Here." He handed the pencil over, still slightly confused. 

"Thanks Tachibana." He said, grabbing his notebook. 

"I didn't know you took this class." Makoto asked. Sousuke looked up at him from his paper. 

"Mhm. I just normally sit on the other side. Some kid took my spot." He crinkled his nose at the small little blonde. 

"Ah, I see." He said, not knowing what to say.  
How the fuck do you talk to someone you were convinced hated you? "Well... It's nice to see you again Yamazaki-san." He smiled, trying to be polite. 

For the first time in his life, Makoto actually saw Sousuke smile. And what a surprisingly handsome smile. 

"Same to you."


	2. Holy shit, you can laugh?!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aww Sousuke is playing nice. What a good boy.

The new facial expression almost scared Makoto.  
He couldn't think of anything else to say, so he silently cheered when the professor walked into the room. 

God damn it was hard to focus next to this man. He just reeked of intimidation.  
The brunet watched Sousuke out of the corner of his eye, still somewhat confused the man smiled at him. 

Sousuke had beat handwriting too, from what Makoto could see. He had just assumed he would be sloppy for some reason. 

The professor finished his notes and dismissed the class. 

"...wait. That was two hours?" Makoto blinked, rechecking his watch. 

"Were you distracted?"

Was Sousuke...teasing him?

"N-no! Just...time flew.." He muttered, gathering his notes, realizing he barely wrote anything at all. "Shit.." He cursed. 

"What?" Sousuke glanced over at him as he pulled his bag onto his shoulder. 

"I didn't take any notes." The brunet furrowed his brow. "I'm fucked for the test."

Sousuke stayed silent for a moment. Makoto could almost hear the man's inner clockwork turning in thought. 

"If you want we can grab coffee so you can copy mine?" He offered. 

Wow. 

Makoto couldn't help but smile in relief. "Oh thank you, that would help me a lot." He grabbed his bag and hurled it onto his shoulder. "I have a three hour break until my next class, so I have time." 

"I'm done for the day, but I also just need coffee." Sousuke shrugged. Makoto chuckled. 

"Well thank you, you're being surprisingly nice Yamazaki-san." 

Sousuke stared blankly at the brunet. "You can call me Sousuke. Really. I don't mind." He said. 

"Then I guess you can call me Makoto." He said, tryin to shake off the awkward feeling of talking to him. 

"Sounds good. Let's go get coffee then, Makoto." He smiled, a crooked, dazzling smile. 

"Mhm." The brunet swallowed hard and headed for the door, letting Sousuke lead. 

Wait...fuck. Was this a date? God no, no way. ...right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wowwie :) thank you for all the praise! It makes me feel special~ 
> 
> Feel free to follow and message me!!  
> http://wewuwe.tumblr.com/


	3. Totally Not a Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nope. Not a date at all. I dunno why anyone would think that. That's stupid. No, no way a date. Nope. No. 
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> No.

In the history of awkward silences, this one had to take the cake. 

Makoto had no fucking clue what to talk about. And Sousuke was content with just the silence. God, Makoto wanted to just break the tension. 

What the fuck do you say to a guy like Sousuke?

 

"So." He cleared his throat, causing Sousuke to glance over at him. "You've gotten taller." 

Yup. That's exactly what you say. Defiantly. Ten points for Makoto. Drinks all around. 

Sousuke just chuckled, looking at the brunet. 

"So did you. Just not as much as me." He smirked. 

Was he teasing him?

Makoto huffed playfully. 

"Well...." He wasn't sure what to say for a comeback. "Not my fault." He gave the dark haired man a playful smile.   
Sousuke smiled back and motioned to the small cafe coming up.

"That place okay?" He asked.   
Makoto actually likes this cafe a lot, so he wouldn't complain. 

"Mhm. Just fine." He said, opening the door and holding it for Sousuke politely. 

Sousuke frowned and traced over Makoto's head and held the door as well.   
"No. You go in first." It was like Makoto was a small village under the shade of a giant mountain. 

"O-oh, alright. Thank you." He said, having a hard time looking the man in the eyes when he seemed so intimidating. 

Sousuke smiled in victory as the brunet walked into the shop and to the counter. 

Makoto politely asked for his latte with cream and sugar and paid the young woman behind the counter.   
"Let me get yours." Makoto said, turning to Sousuke. "As a thank you for letting me copy your notes." He said.

Sousuke didn't like the idea of the many paying for him. But it was hard to say no to a face like that.   
"Fine." He said shortly. "I'll have just coffee black." 

Makoto looked confused.   
"No sugar at all?" 

"No." 

"Cream?" 

"Nope." 

Makoto made a face. "Of course you drink your coffee black." He sighed and ordered for him, paying the woman 

"What's that mean?" Sousuke raised an eyebrow. 

"Nothin'." Makoto shrugged. "I just should have guessed is all." He smiled, taking his latte and the large cup of coffee. "Where do you want to sit? He asked, carrying the drinks 

"I like that little area over by the plants." Sousuke pointed to a small table with cushioned stools. Makoto walked to where he pointed and set the coffees down and sat down, boucig slightly at the cushioned stool.   
Sousuke followed him, reaching for his coffee. "Thanks for the coffee." 

"Thanks for the notes." Makoto said quickly, shuffling to find his notebook to write down what he missed.   
Sousuke handed him his spiral notebooks and flipped to that days notes. 

"Sorry if it's messy." He said. 

Makoto looked at the very neat handwriting. 

"This is messy? Well okay." He sai as he began taking the notes. 

Sousuke watched the man focus in writing, smiling at the fact Makoto was chewing on his lower lip as he wrote. Most likely a habit he assumed. Still cute though. 

Makoto occasionally stole a sip of his latte before going back to the notes, being very thorough.

Sousuke wanted to break the silence, but decided against it since the other man was very determined to do well in the class, he didn't want to disturb him.   
He didn't mind looking at the man. 

Were Makoto's eyelashes always that long? 

"One more page." Makoto finally spoke. "I'm sorry, I'm ignoring you, aren't I?" He gave the man an apologetic smile. 

"You're fine Makoto." He said, noticing the pink that instantly dusted the man's cheeks when he said his name. 

"A-alright." He said, forcing himself to rip his eyes away from Sousuke's.  
Makoto brushed back his own hair and leaned onto his hand, his writing starting to get sloppy from his hand growing tired. 

"So why didn't you take notes today?" Sousuke finally asked. Makoto stopped, glancing up at the dark haired man. 

"Uhm.. I don't know." 

 

"What distracted you?" God, he was like an interrogating cop. 

"Nothing, just.. It was just one of those days." Makoto could feel his ears growing warm. 

Sousuke smiled. "Ah. Alright." He said. "Because I was having a hard time focusing today too. But I was more just distracted because I had never sat next to you before." Sousuke said so bluntly, as if he were talking about the weather. 

Makoto set his pen down. 

"Really?" He asked, baffled. Sousuke nodded. 

"It was just new. That's all." 

"Oh." Makoto let a little smile grow on his face.   
He knew it wasn't a compliment. But Makoto took it as one anyways. "Well, you're welcome to sit next to me. If you want to that is." He offered. 

"I might." Sousuke said, "It was a nice change of scenery." He said. "Good to see familiar faces I guess." He shrugged. 

Makoto smiled. 

"Yeah. It's good to see you too Sousuke."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for sticking with this story. It's so exciting to see all the hits and kudos!
> 
> Thank you again <3 
> 
> Follow me on tumblr if you'd like to as well!  
> wewuwe.tumblr.com


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Makoto apparently can't handle speaking, but it works, since Sousuke doesn't like talking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it's been so long since I've updated this... It's been a weird few months, busy. 
> 
> But please enjoy and add comments if you'd like! 
> 
> Feel free to message me at wewuwe.tumblr.com!

Makoto stared at the bottom of his empty coffee mug, annoyed it was all gone. 

Was he sad to leave? 

Sousuke cleared his throat.  
"You look frustrated." He said, looking at the brunet.  
Makoto glanced up at the larger man, trying to manage a sentence that would actually make sense. 

"Oh, no! .. No, no I'm okay, just sad about the coffee...coffee's gone." He pointed to the mug, bumping it accidentally, causing it to wobble and roll on the table. 

Sousuke sighed and grabbed the glass before it fell to the ground. "If you say so Makoto." 

Hearing his name made his heartbeat race, why was he being so weird? 

Makoto forced himself to calm down, taking a slow breath.  
He stood up, pushing his chair in.  
"Well, I'm sure you're busy and have better things to do.." He trailed off, trying to find the right words to say.  
Sousuke didnt says anything, just stood up as well. He only shrugged, watching the brunet so focused. 

"I'll see you in class then?" Makoto said, as he headed to the door, that Sousuke had reached over him and held it open for Makoto.  
Sousuke nodded.  
"Yup." He said shortly.  
Makoto could barely breathe through the tension...

"Well.. Bye then Sousuke." He gave the taller man a polite smile, Sousuke responded with a lazy wave. 

"Hopefully you don't take notes again so we can do this again." He said as he walked the other way, to his apartment. 

Makoto choked, but didn't respond. He looked back at the man, who oh-so casually walked down the sidewalk. 

"Was....was that a flirt?" Makoto had the idea to curl up and just die from embarrassment, but every part of him wanted to see the taller man again. 

 

Maybe he would forget to do his notes?


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm here holy shit!
> 
> I hope some of you haven't given up on me, life is weird and confusing, but I'm here to write about pretty, tree-like men!

"Five more minutes."

Makoto hated cardio. Out of everything he did in the gym, he loathed this the most. The treadmill killed his knees, and he felt like everyone was watching him as his heavy feet hit the belt with each loud "Thump".

He wanted to run outside, he enjoyed that. But in the city that was a rare thing to do, and even being as big at Mako was, he was afraid of going alone.

It had been a week since Makoto had coffee with the giant, but he noticed the man started sitting beside him in class. He didn't talk much, but Makoto was starting to have a hard time focusing every time he sat beside him. 

Feeling his head spinning at the thought, he let out a load groan of happiness when his watch beeped at the five minute mark, immediately covering his mouth as people looked at him for his loud noise.  
Flustered, and basically dying on the machine, Makoto grabbed his phone from the stand and turned up his music and headed to the locker room to grab his stuff.

The gym was a smaller, less known one in the city, and that's why Mako chose this one, along with it being it close to his apartment. The week was over and all the brunet had to do was one thing of homework and he could for once, enjoy his weekend.  
He had already told Haru he was free this weekend, but Haru was going to visit Rin this weekend, so makoto was staying in this weekend. Movie, good food and maybe a beer or two. Sounded wonderful to him.

Pulling out his headphones, he set his phone and headphones on the locker shelf, pulling off his shirt and wiping his face with it. He sighed, happy cardio day was over. He stretched, feeling the nice pain of a sore muscle in his stomach. He slid out of his shorts and boxers and grabbed his towel, wrapping it around his waist. The brunet grabbed his body wash and shampoo and headed to the showers. He hated showering in these stalls, he seemed like a giant. The stalls were separated by boarders, but the toips of the showers where the shower head was, was open, so from the head up is shown, for a normal person at least. Poor Makoto was showing shoulders and up.  
The water was cold, causing him to make a sharp noise, but relaxed as soon as the water faded to warmth around his muscles. He closed his eyes and hummed in happiness, letting his body shiver out the cold and fill with the warmth of the poor water pressure.

A small noise caused Makoto to open his eyes. It sounded as if something hit one of the shower heads, causing a squeak of the metal shower head to move.

"Ugh."

Makoto assumed a person bumped into something. He glanced slightly, to make sure the person was alright, but immediately regretted his decision.

"Sousuke?" Mako looked over at the tree of a person hunched under the shower head, obvious annoyance on the dark haired man's face. Sousuke had his head flushed right to the shower head, as bent as he could be without practically kneeling on the questionable tile floor.

"Yeah-fuck!" Sousuke turned to the person talking, hitting his head one more time, causing him to groan. He opened his eyes as he rubbed his head, eyes widening at the sight of Makoto. "Hey." He said, his voice a little softer as he spoke to the brunet. "I didn't know you worked out here too." He said.

"Yeah, for a few months now, it's close to my place so it's convenient." Makoto smiled, glancing at the man's head, before moving down to the man's well-sculpted chest, realizing he was in a worse position with his height than Makoto was.  
Makoto's face then drained of color. Fuck. He's two stalls away from this man and he just realized, he was naked. No. They both were naked. Shit.

Makoto turned his head, hiding his red face. He didn't turn quick enough for Sousuke to not notice the blush.

Sousuke couldn't help but grin.

"Same here." He said quickly, turning back to rinse his hair, letting the poor brunet wash up.

Makoto washed himself in record time, wanting to get the fuck out of this situation.

"So," Makoto heard the man speak, causing him to glance over and see Sousuke with his arms leaned against the top of the stall, crossing his arms and looking at the brunet. "What are you doing this weekend?" Sousuke asked. Makoto turned off the water and grabbed his towel, drying his hair as he looked over at the taller man.

Say you're going out with friends. Say you're seeing family. Fuck, just say you're working, anything but "nothing"!

"Nothing."

Again, ten points for Makoto.

"Hm." Sousuke hummed, wrapping a towel around his waist and leaving his stall, heading to his locker.

Wait. that's it? no response? Was Makoto disappointed?

"What about you?" Makoto asked, upset with the other man's response. The brunet covered himself with his towel and went to his own locker, grabbing his clothes to get dressed in the bathroom stall. 

Sousuke apparently had no fear, pulling off his towel and slipping into his boxers that fit as if they were made for him.

Makoto hated himself for immediately looking down as soon as the towel was pulled away, doing everything he can to not cover his mouth in awe of what he saw. He turned and decided to be fearless too, changing in the locker room.

"Lazy weekend for me." Sousuke said, glancing at the wonderful gift from god that was Makoto's ass.

"Hm." Makoto copied the same tone Sousuke had for his past response, keeping his calm as he got dressed. "That sounds like fun to me--!" Makoto's voice rose when he turned, after closing his locker, to see the taller man standing over him, a lazy smile on his face.

"Want to copy my notes again?" Sousuke said, tilting his head, enjoying how easy it was to get a reaction out of the brunet.

Makoto felt his heart in his throat. He looked up at the man's focused eyes. "B-But I did all my notes this time." He said, hating the words that came from his own mouth.

Sousuke clicked his tongue, looking disappointed. "Shame." He said, looking down at the brunet before turning away to close his own locker and slipping on his shoes to leave.

Fix this Makoto. Fix this now!

"U-uh. But I can look over yours to make sure I got everything!" He said, a little too loudly.

Even seeing just the back of the larger man's head, he knew Sousuke was smirking. Sou turned back to face Makoto, his face calm again.

"Then coffee?" He asked, causing Makoto's stomach to flip in excitement. 

"Y-yeah. Yeah, coffee then." He smiled at the tree standing in front of him, his pulse spiking as soon as Sousuke dazzled him with a smile.


End file.
